‘The Stratford Upon Avon & Midland Junction Railway’ (or S.M.J.) was a small independent railway company which ran a line across the empty, untouched centre of England. It visited the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and a little of Buckinghamshire, only existing as the SMJ from 1909 to 1923. In 1923 the S.M.J.became a minor arm of the London Midland and Scottish (L.M.S.), then in 1948 'British Railways'
Gone but not forgotten: "the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth"
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SMJ Forum
Passenger Trains connected to the SMJ
Following on from the previous discussion about WD passenger trains on the SMJ during the 1940s; it must be said that passenger trains ran on metals connected to the SMJ until the mid 1960s. There was a passenger service from the nearest point to…Continue
Started by Dave Hayward Jun 16.
Wartime passenger trains from Burton Dassett 3 Replies
Arthur Jordan in his book, The Stratford Upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway - The Shakespeare Route at pp 82 mentions a WW2 late night special from Stratford on Avon to Burton Dassett for soldiers at the CAD. I would envisage that this did not…Continue
Started by Dave Hayward. Last reply by Dave Hayward Jun 16.
PPhoto Albums 1 Reply
AndyAbout two years ago I ended up with some railway matter from a Bill Kendall who had been a Signalman on SMJ ending his railway career at Northampton No 1. I worked with him when I was working in Rugby PSB, I also covered the signa?l boxes at…Continue
Started by Robin Leslie Patrick. Last reply by Dave Hayward Jun 8.
Broom Junction station site for sale 3 Replies
Great opportunity for an SMJ enthusiast perhaps. I'm not sure what you could actually do with this site though!…Continue
Started by Simon Stevens. Last reply by Simon Stevens May 17.
SMJ photos
Dukedog on railtour at Stratford SMJ
Add a Comment
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Comment by Gary on September 14, 2009 at 6:44
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Yes Adrian,
Blisworth had two separate stations. The SMJR one was separate from the LNWR/LMS one and trains going to Northampton from the SMJR had quite a shunt to cross the WCML to get to the Northampton line.
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Comment by adrian vaughan on September 13, 2009 at 19:19
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No - difficult one. It ain't Kineton because the name board on the signal box is wrong. Kineton we do have and the letters are quite large. It was a short name and they seem to have gone for larger letters in the instance. The unidentified place has a signal box nameboard with smaller letters and more of them.
I'm scanning all I have on your railway and I will post them one by one. I'm doing Blisworth SMJ platforms in April 1950 at the moment. I take it I am correct in believing that there was a separate, double track line between platforms for SMJ at Blisworth?
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Adrian,
The layout of the track rules out the Ettington.
Blakesley was on a curve and the pictures seem to show a straight staion.
Kineton does seem to be the most likely as the layout is close to that pictured and the station is one of the few that seem to be near civilisation.
Sorry not much help is it?
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I hazard the guess that the widely spaced platforms is because there used to be more tracks between them. Diminishing traffic permitted the railway to take some 'Middle Sidings' out??
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The photographer's note say April 24th 1955??
Has anyone a suggestion for the station where the 75xxx was photo'd. The Signal Box name is quite unreadable but it it a fairly long name. Blakesley or Ettington but not a two-word name.
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The space between th running lines in the platforms at Stratford was remarkably large and certainly "non-standard" isn't it? DOes anyone know why the platforms were so far apart?
This one is date-able... GWR Dukedog 4-4-0 No.9015 (with 4 on) on the REC "South Midlander" railtour 24 March 55.
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